Take-off mechanism for metal wool making machines



May 29, 1934. PETERSON TAKE-OFF MECHANISM FOR METAL WOOL MAKING MACHINES Filed Dec. 5, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inc/6771757": eUancZer Peterson- QLEHW M UQZQS May 29, 1934. L. PETERSON I 1,960,793

TAKE-OFF MECHANISM FOR METAL WOOL MAKING MACHINES Filed Dec. 5, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JnUcZTUZI'Y Levander'fieterson By flags Patented May 29, 1934 UNHTE STATES TAKE-OFF MECHANISM FOR METAL WOOL MAKING IVIACHINES Levander Peterson, Chicago, Ill., assignor to James H. Rhodes & Company, Chicago, 111., a

corporation of Illinois Application December 3, 1928, Serial No. 323,284

5 Ciaims. (Cl. 164-68) This invention has to do with machines for making steel wool, and is concerned particularly with the manner in which the wool is handled as it comes from the machine.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel mechanism for taking off the wool as fast as it is formed.

Another important object is to provide such a mechanism which will cut the wool into bats of uniform but readily variable length.

Other objects and advantages will be evident to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the construction, arrangement and operation of the take-off mechanism.

One form of the invention is presented herein for the purpose of exempliiication, but it will of course be appreciated that the invention is susceptible of embodiment in other structurally modified forms coming equally within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the take-off mechanism;

' Fig. 2 is an end view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical section, taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. 2.

As the wool comes from the machine, it is in the form of a large number of separate strands 10 which are ordinarily grouped according to fineness, the finer strands being taken off from one portion of the machine and the coarser ones being taken off from another, it being desirable to separate the strands according tofineness for the reason that fine and coarse wool are used commercially for quite different purposes.

The take-off mechanism shown in the drawings and forming the subject matter of this invention consists of two practically duplicate and similarly functioning units 11 and 12. The fine strands 13 of the wool are conducted to the unit 11 through two bent wire guides 14 and 15, while the coarse strands 16 of the wool are conducted to the unit 12 through two corresponding guides. 17 and 18.

Inasmuch as the units 11 and 12 are pratically the same, the following description will'be directed more particularly to the unit 12, which is shown in detailed cross section in Fig. 4. The unit 12 includes primarily a pair of feed rolls 19 and 20, a stationary cutting blade 21 and a movable cutting blade 22. The roll is secured to a shaft 23, which shaft is rotated continuously by a power-actuated belt 24 which is trained over a pulley 25 secured to the shaft.

The roll 19 is positioned above the roll 20 in peripheral engagement with the same, and is secured to a shaft 26. The shaft 26 is journaled in bearings 2'7 formed in the free ends of two pivotally mounted arms 28, and the roll 19 is pressed resiliently against the roll 20 by means of two coil springs 29 which are secured to the ends of the arms 28 beyond the bearings 2'? for the shaft 26.

The strands of wool grouped by the guides 17 and 18 pass over the roll 20, and the faces of the rolls 19 and 26, which are preferably quite smooth, engage frictionally with the wool under the action of the springs 29 and move the wool from the guides to the cutting mechanism. The peripheral speed of the positively driven roll 20 is as great as the speed at which the wool is cut and led away from the wool-forming machine, and may be even a little greater in order to compensate for variations in the speed of formation without pulling the wool apart, the smooth surfaces of the rolls and the springpressed yieldable relationship existing therebetween permitting slight slippage of the wool relative to the rolls in the event that the rate of speed at which the wool is formed should fall slightly below the rate of speed at which the roll 20 has been set to operate.

The rolls l9 and 20 serve to bring the separate strands of the Wool together into a rather flat unified strip, and to feed such strip over the blade 21, which blade is located below the roll 20 on the discharge side of the latter. The blade 22, which coacts with the blade 21, extends between two wheels 30 and is attached to the rims of such wheels. The wheels 30 are secured to a shaft 31, which shaft is driven from the shaft 23 by means of a belt 32 which is trained over a multiple-step pulley 33 secured to the shaft 23 and a multiple-step pulley 34 releasably secured to the shaft 31 by means of a clutch 35 of ordinary construction operated by a hand lever 35*.

As the shaft 31 rotates, the blade 22 revolves about the axis of the shaft and shears across the edge of the blade 21 once during each revolution. The speed of the blade 22 in shearing across the blade 21 is much greater than the speed of the strip of wool passing down over the blade 21, with the result that the strip is severed between the blades 21 and 22 with a clean cut. After the blade 22 cuts off the strip of wool at the location of the blade 21, the severed portion or bat 36 drops into a suitable receptacle, and the new end 37 of the strip moves down over the blade 21 into a position ready for the next cutting units are the same.

:chines, comprising,

all times against the edge of the blade 21, passing the edge of such blade in slightly spaced relationthereto whereby to avoid any severing action by the outer edges 39 of the plates, which edgesare deflected backwardly to further insure the desired action.

The length of the bats cut from the continuously moving strip of wool emerging from between the feeding rolls may be increased or de-' creased by changing the position of the belt 32 in the different grooves of the multiple-step pulleys 33 and 34. If longer bats are desired, a change is made in the position of the belt which will cause the cutting wheel to rotate slower,

-while, if shorter bats are desired, a change is made in the position of the belt which will cause the cutting wheel to rotate faster.

The foregoing description applies to the unit 12. In general features of construction and operation, the unit 11 is precisely the same as the unit 12. The only structural difference shown in the drawings is the operating connection for the cutting wheel of the unit 11. The shaft 40 of the cutting wheel, instead of being driven from the shaft 26, is independently driven by means of a power-actuated belt 41, which belt is trained over a pulley 42 which is releasably connected to the shaft 40 by means of a clutch 43 of ordinary construction. In all other respects the two Both of the positively driven feed rolls of the units are secured for convenience to the shaft 26.

I claim:

1. A take-off mechanism for wool-forming main combination, means for continuously feeding the wool in the form of a strip, a cutter past which the strip is fed and against which the strip is suspended, means for deflecting the strip laterally beneath the cutter toeffect firm engagement therewith, and means for intermittently operating the cutter to separate the strip into short lengths.

2. A take-off mechanism for wool-forming machines, comprising, in combination, a pair of rolls between which the wool is adapted to pass, means The plates 38 serve.

for continuously rotating one of the rolls to feed the wool therebetween, a stationary blade over which the wool is fed downwardly by the rolls in a suspended condition, a movable blade for shearing coaction with the stationary blade, means for intermittently passing the movable blade across the stationary blade to cut the wool into short lengths, and means for bending the wool about the edge of the stationary blade in advance of the cutting operation.

3. A take-off mechanism for wool-forming machines, comprising, in combination, a pair of feed rolls, means for continuously rotating one roll, a spring for pressing the other roll into frictional engagement with the rotated roll whereby to cause both rolls to rotate together to feed the wool therebetween in the form of a strip, a stationary blade past which the strip of wool is fed downwardly in a suspended condition by the rolls, a pair of spaced wheels between which the strip of wool is suspended, a blade extending between the rims of the wheels for shearing coaction with the stationary blade, means carried by the wheels in spaced relation to the blade on the wheels for maintaining the moving strip of wool against the stationary blade in the interval between the cutting operations, and means for rotating the. wheels whereby to cause the strip of wool to be cut into short lengths.

4. A take-off'mechanism for wool-forming machines, comprising, in combination, means for cutting a ribbon of loose fluffy wool into bats of uniform length, said means consisting of a stationary cutter blade, a movable cutter blade traveling in a circle, spaced side members to which the ends of the movable blade are attached, and means for directing the uncut wool across the stationary blade into the open area between the side members in a direction approximately at right angles to the direction of approach of the cutter whereby to shear the loose wool with a straight out without pulling it apart.

5. A take-ofi mechanism for wool-forming machines, comprising means for separating a ribbon of loose fiufiy metal wool into bats of uniform length, said means consisting of a stationary cutter blade, a movable cutter blade for shearing coaction with the stationary blade, and means for moving, the uncut wool downwardly across the stationary blade into a freely suspended position beneath the latter in a direction approximately at right angles to the direction of approach of the movable blade whereby to shear the loose wool with a straight out without pulling it apart in the direction of its length.

LEVANDER PETERSON. 

